South Korea to beef up match-fixing penalties
Reuters - Wednesday 08 June 2011, 08:31
SEOUL - The South Korean government will
beef up penalties for match-fixing to deal with the 'crisis'
that has led to the arrest of a handful of football players.
Park Sun-kyu, vice minister of culture, sports and tourism,
was quoted in Wednesday's edition of The Korea Herald as saying
they were taking steps to root out the problem.
Those convicted of attempting to fix matches or giving
bribes will now face a maximum prison sentence of seven years or
a fine of up to 70 million won ($64,971).
Those found to have accepted offers to fix matches face a
five-year jail term or a fine of up to 50 million won.
"We're now revising the new rules, which will be in effect
soon," a humble Park was quoted by the paper. "I have nothing to
say but that I am sorry.
"We understand that we're now facing a serious crisis. But
this can also be an opportunity to reform our system. We'll try
to do everything to root out matching-fixing here."
Five players have been arrested so in far in the probe with
the state-run sports bookmaker Sports Toto being stopped from
taking bets on matches at the request of K-League club owners.
"I understand that the measures are not sufficient to root
out the problem, but it shows the government takes this case
seriously. We'll continue to work to root out match-fixing in
this country," Park added.